CMS Will Not Cover Weight-Loss Surgeries For Non-Obese Diabetes Patients

CMS on Monday said that it will not cover weight-loss surgery for Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes who are not dangerously overweight because there is not ample evidence proving the procedure can improve their health, Reuters/Yahoo! News reports.

Currently, Medicare and private insurers cover weight-loss surgeries, which range in cost from $15,000 to $35,000, for severely obese people.

Advertisement

After a small study released earlier this year found that such surgeries could completely reverse type 2 diabetes, the agency decided to conduct its own review of available data. According to a proposal, the agency found no "convincing medical evidence that bariatric surgery improved health outcomes for non-morbidly obese individuals."

CMS said it will review public comments before making a final ruling, which is likely to influence policies set by private insurers (Heavey, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 11/17).

Related Terms

The bitter cucumber contains active ingredients that lower blood sugar for people with diabetes. This is according to the results of a study conducted by researchers from Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU).

Are you diabetic and looking for an easy way to lower your blood sugar levels after a meal? Researchers announced that a new potential blood sugar lowering drink for diabetics may just be that after dinner drink you need.

Urgo Medical findings support the use of sucrose octasulfate dressing as a local treatment for neuroischemic diabetic foot ulcers. This is the world's first effective dressing for healing diabetic wounds.

Defymed, a biotechnology company based in Strasbourg, plans to start clinical trials of an implantable insulin delivery device ExOlin, connected directly to the liver. The trials are set to start in 2018, with an aim of releasing the product to market in 2020.